No Meltemi, what about Smarterphone? What is there beyond S40? What of Qt?

Much may have changed in a short time as news trickles in to say that there will no longer be a ‘Meltemi’ effort from Nokia.

http://allthingsd.com/20120614/nokia-to-end-meltemi-effort-for-low-end-smartphones/

Meltemi was a Linux based OS what was thought to be capable of scaling down to very basic phones but also possible of scaling up. Meltemi followed the Maemo series of Wind names and gave some hope that there was still a bit of Linux effort going on inside Nokia.

Why not go full out Windows Phone for low end? Because WP can’t scale to the same levels something like the Asha 311 is doing – nor does it yet have those basic features expected from those users (e.g. BT file sending).

There was a shake up in the ranks as the head of the next billion project (next billion which was tied to Qt for next billion), McDowell steps down.

It just leaves me with more questions.

• What was Meltemi?
• What was it like to use?
• How did it tackle the Apps issue
• What’s happening with Qt?
• What’s happening with the purchase of the Smarterphone linux based OS?

According to TheRegister, the Smarterphone team will work on S40 instead.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/14/nokia_software_purge/

There has been speculation as well regarding what will happen with Qt. Readers have been anxiously reading tweets from people concerned with Qt and have come to a conclusion that it is a dead end at Nokia. However, TheRegister provides a different insight.

So is it farewell for Qt and QML? Not at all, says Nokia. “Speculation is groundless,” a company spokesman told us.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/14/nokia_software_purge/

Well, that’s all good saying that now. What people want is evidence that this speculation is groundless. What are they going to do with Qt? Why is Qt important? We need to show them that.

What now?

As you know I lean towards being a more optimistic person, especially regarding Nokia’s potential on what they can do. But day and day it gets harder as the walls around them close in. The factors are not simply stronger competition but Nokia’s own inability to be strong against outside forces.

I think that there is still a chance that Nokia could pull this off. But it requires precise alignment and success of various other factors outside of Nokia’s control. It is a gamble but one with a chance. Nokia have positioned themselves now at the centre of Windows Phone. Nokia could produce an Amazing WP8 Lumia (could. I am very hopeful but I have a sneaky feeling we’ll see some classic Nokia compromises somewhere that would kill it).

Lumia Windows Phone 8 can be significantly bolstered should Windows 8 become a hit. Xbox continues to grow, especially now with Metro and Smartglass integration, as well as other Microsoft assets such as skype, office, mail etc.

However, should it fail, then Nokia fails. And even if it should succeed, Nokia will have stiff competition gunning for a piece of the pie – and Nokia may not have the arsenal to defend itself.

It is a very difficult time right now.  We need Nokia and MS to deliver high quality products and services fast. Mindshare lost is not impossible to regain. But Mind share is difficult to reap back unless you consistently deliver attractive and desirable products. We can’t win a fight if we don’t even throw a punch.

Cheers all for the tip!

Category: Nokia